Akim of the Kyzylorda region Nurlybek Nalibaev and Chairman of the Board of the national nuclear company Kazatomprom Meirzhan Yusupov discussed projects that the subsoil user is implementing in the region.
The press service of the akimat notes that the Kyzylorda region accounts for about 20% of all uranium mined in the country. Currently, four subsidiaries of Kazatomprom operate in the region: Baiken-U, RU-6, Khorasan-U and Semizbay-U.
Mr. Nalibaev proposed to transfer the production of the Baiken-U company (a joint venture of Kazatomprom and Energy Asia Limited) to full design capacity. Currently the plant is only 65% loaded.
Another possible project, the implementation of which was discussed by the parties, is the expansion of the SKZ-U plant, where sulfuric acid is produced. At the moment, the enterprise produces 500 thousand tons of reagent per year for uranium mining by borehole in-situ leaching.
Recently, Kazatomprom has been faced with a significant shortage of acid for its assets; in connection with this, the subsoil user even decided to revise the production plan for 2024. To solve the problem, in the Kyzylorda region they can either increase the capacity of the existing plant or open a new one.
In addition, at a meeting between the company’s management and the akim, the social responsibility of the subsoil user to the region of presence was discussed. Mr. Nalibaev noted that 88 million tenge per year is allocated to charity, about 0.2% of the amount of dividends. This amount is significantly less than the investments of other companies, in particular oil producers. In this regard, the akim recommended that the management of Kazatomprom invest more actively in socially significant projects.
